Rev. Kate Guendling

The Dance of Freedom… Surrender to change. Change is occurring at an ever-increasing rate these days. Our ancestors would not have experienced in a life time the number of changes that you have experienced in that last two years. These changes are not only about technology and lifestyle but are radical changes in the way that we perceive ourselves and our universe.Robert Brumet is a Unity minister and instructor at Unity Village. In this book “Finding Yourself in Transition” he writes that, “Such changes are not just about how we live but about who we are as human beings.  Our assumptions about who we are and how we are related to the world around us are being challenged, if not shattered.”Can we find anything permanent in a world of change? By fully surrendering to the process of change you will discover that which never changes.The attitude of surrender is sometimes referred to by other names such as non resistance, acceptance, nonattachment or equanimity. We experience these attitudes when we surrender to “what is” in this very moment. Surrender demands a willingness to look at each part of ourselves as it arises, accepting whatever it is.Accepting whatever it is does not mean that we act out every thought, feeling or desire. We can accept our anger and behave in a manner that is appropriate for our well-being and the well-being of others. Our conscious awareness of each thought, feeling, desire, memory and physical sensation allows each experience to occur without judgment, meaning making or volition.  Amazingly, though our surrender to “what is,” we automatically begin to behave in ways that are beneficial to ourselves and others.Our resistance to “what is” sets us up for suffering. Our attachment to outcomes, identities, and opinions can be observed and released through continuous Spiritual Practice. It takes insight and perseverance to retrain oneself to open up and allow each experience to occur as it naturally seeks to happen.Brumet says “Surrendering to the flow of life, the divine plan, we eventually find a new sense of peace and a new source of power. We experience the dance of life unfolding with less grasping and attachment…and less suffering. Gradually, we begin to see that we are not living our life, but rather that our life is being lived through us. Life then takes on a flow, a rhythm, a synchronicity.  With little effort, much is accomplished.” Through this internal surrendering we experience the still point so many spiritual teachers are leading us to. At the still point,  eternity exists within each passing moment; infinity exists with each dancing atom; the changeless exists in the heart of change  itself.Brumet writes, “Except for the point, the still point, there would be no dance, and there is only the dance. We are both the dancer and the dance, the seeker and the sought, the knower and the known. What we have been looking for is that which is looking. We’ve come home to our Self. But this is not the end… it is only the beginning, for the dance goes on!”Change is happening. Unity of Fayetteville is transforming.  Spiritual practice has become a priority here. Through numerous classes and workshops we have danced together accepting ourselves and others as the IS-ness of the now moment.  As always lovers of Unity dance to “the beat of a different drummer” yet the rhythm is enticing.We can hold each other tight, look into each others eyes and see God. Dancing together with God as our partner we enjoy the freedom of the enlightened, the peace of the blessed, and the joy of the One. Thank you for the dance.Namaste